A recent KMBC news report announces that thousands of people in Kansas City may be richer than they think. At a time like this with the country in economic chaos, that’s great news just in time for the holidays! The free cash isn’t limited to Kansas either. According to the State Treasurer , Missouri unclaimed money has grown to the massive amount of 400 million dollars. The pile of unclaimed property money will keep growing, because like in most other states, MO takes in more unclaimed money every year than they return to residents. Among the variety of reasons why these assets remain unclaimed, is the fact that most people are not aware about the existence of lost money in the Treasury, and those that know about it don’t have the proper search methods at their disposal.

With MO unclaimed money rolls nearing a half of a billion dollars, the “Show Me State” might want to change its nickname to the “Show Me The Money State”. So where does all that cash come from? There are many dozens of different sources for unclaimed money, but some of the most common are safe deposit boxes, certificates of deposit, abandoned bank accounts, life insurance policies, forgotten stocks, and checks that have not been cashed. The Judicial Court in Missouri’s Callaway County as of March of ’08 had 68 uncollected checks worth almost $9,000 for example. This in a recent report by The Fulton Sun.

Despite the fact that there is no time limit on claiming abandoned cash, MO only guarantees that they’ll hang on to items from safe deposit boxes for one year (though they do occassionaly hold on to them for longer). According to the MO State Treasurer’s web site, this is how they handle these items: “Although State Treasurer Steelman would like to keep the contents of safe deposit boxes until an owner or heir is identified, the unclaimed property vault used to store non-monetary items of value (jewelry, coins, etc.) reaches capacity every couple of years. When the vault is full, the Unclaimed Property Division hosts an auction, and the proceeds generated from the sale of items from safe deposit boxes is recorded in the name of the safe deposit box owner. If owners or heirs are identified, they receive the entire proceeds from the sale of the items.”

It is clear that for those citizens who use or have used a safe deposit box, it is vitally important to quickly get your search started if your items hold some sentimental value to you, but at least you’ll get the money if they sell your items. It’s lucky for the majority of us, most of the money doesn’t come from these auctions.

Whether you’re a former or current MO resident, or in some cases, haven’t ever lived in MO at all, the odds that lost money is owed to you, are in your favor. And the great thing about cash from unclaimed money is that the cash already rightfully belongs to people. This means there are no games or gambling involved. The main thing keeping missing money from turning in to found cash, for most people, is their knowledge about where to search, and how to search.

Countless myths exist about unclaimed money. The most common of which is the idea that performing a simple online search on any old web site is doing a complete search. Sadly the majority of these so called “official” searches, are anything but, and their data is quite often very outdated if not totally false, and only there as a selling point. The other myth is the idea that the state’s databases are up to date and accurate. St. Louis resident Judy Hall encountered a dead end of sorts when (after being advised by a friend who discovered she was due $3,000) found out there were two MO unclaimed property accounts in her late father’s name. She discovered she had a different biological father however and this prevents her from filing a claim or even determining where and how much the unclaimed property is worth.

To learn more about these unclaimed money search obstacles, and many more, and it is important to seek expert assistance in your search for unclaimed money, to be sure that you locate and claim all possible cash owed to you.